The Counterculture Of The Sixties

Fashion in the 60s was pretty different than it is today, but there are some similarities. Do people know that some items of clothing they wear today was actually in style almost 60 years ago? From prom dresses to dress codes, schools have changed their clothing requirements a lot compared to today. Students showed a lot less skin. Girls were not even allowed to wear pants. The 60s was a time in fashion where the social standards reflected what people wore.

The 1940’s was a turning point in fashion when the New Look by Christian Dior was created in 1947. The new silhouette included soft rounded shoulders, was nipped in the waist, and had a long full skirt. This silhouette along with Christian Dior’s tight-skirted silhouette in dresses and suits and the A-line look all continued into the 1950’s and remained the three main silhouettes for most of the decade. His three silhouettes influenced all kinds of attire including prom dresses, casual everyday wear and even children’s clothing. Figure 4 shows my great grandmother and grandfather in their home in 1955. Everyday dresses were very important during this time because many women did not work but still wanted to remain fashionable in their home.

First in the 1900-1910, girdles and corsets were popular. Corsets were articles of clothing that you would wear underneath your dress, that you would wrap around your waist and yank tight to give the impression of a teeny tiny waist. “The perfect fit” for a dress was designed to put a womans torso ーwhich had been tightly corsetedー on center stage. Women could barely move in these! The corset then became a passing fashion. In 1907, Paul Poiret made dresses that paid homage to

Fashion is truly the most popular mode of expression, it shows the world who one is and where one would like to be. Fashion is always changing and is worn by all different classes, cultures, and stages of life. The time period’s style is reflective of major influences like pop culture, musicians, political figures, celebrities, social issues, and other numerous possible variables. One can see how a society changes and evolves just by looking at what the people wore. In the past, there have been many different fashion trends due to historical events and cultural influences that have shaped what people wore during that time period. .

-Trousers were worn during outside work or play and breeches were worn for fancy occasions

In 1907, women’s dresses became less constrained and tight. Dresses usually buttoned down the front, and the collar was turned down flat (Sichel 58). In 1916, jumpers were also popular. They were usually made from knitted material and they replaced blouses (59). Court dresses were very popular in the 20th century, with its low cut collar. They were always framed. Ladies would also frequently wear feather decorations and gloves. Long trains were attached to the gown by the shoulder and they were pleated. Women would also wear capes with collars, usually made from silk or velvet. Sometimes, they were decorated with sequins, embroidery, or even fur. Wedding dresses were usually white with satin or silk

In 1950s,The fear of WWⅠ had started to gradually recovered, and young adults started to form a group “teenager” and adopted their own fashion style. One of the most common teenagers’ fashion style was “Greaser” look. Black leather jacket, denim jeans, and greasy hair was called as “Greaser” look (Thomas). In 1950s, women started to persue the “feminity” again. Soft shoulders, stiletto heels, wrist-length gloves, and full billowing skirts made these women more feminine. Working women wore pencil-slim skirts, and little hats with feathers on it (Enjoy Your Style). Men wore business suits with some buttons opened, and hat lost its popularity (Dawdy). 1950’s fashion is important because teenagers’

One thing that stood out while researching fashion from this time period was the number of name brand companies that trended from the 80’s and 90’s. Such brands were the Ray-Ban sunglasses, Doc Martens and Members Only. Ray-Ban sunglasses gained the majority of their popularity from celebrities so that will be discussed later in the paper. Doc Martens were shoes that rocked “the military look combined with bright yellow stitching” (“Greatest”). This trend when into the 90’s that was accompanied with the flannel shirts and baggy pants.

This essay which I would explore is the subculture and expression of teenagers in the late 1950,s known as mods and rockers. The Mods and Rockers rebelled to get recognised out from the crowd. The problems are being seen around that period, with the subcultures in Britain, as teenagers wanted to be different from their parent’s way of fashion to partying and to get recognised. The conflict included discussion on social norms but also symbolised fashion freedom. While the approach of the groups may not have been ideal, due to the chaos caused by the two groups, many of them were jailed. The fashion that distinguished each of the groups consisted of suits and smart dressing by the mods, who were working class. Rockers style of dressing, jeans, and leather jackets informed as down market conversely, it has also been utilised as a statement of freedom by those oppressed by government, establishments or regimes. It has also been utilised as a statement of liberty by those oppressed by government, institutions or systems. Buxbaum discusses the idea of fashion as a “social phenomenon” which links comprehensively to the Mods and Rockers phenomenon. This period gave way to incredible advancement in fashion identity and the economy of fashion. It provides details of certain motivations held by the youth at the time which helps explain some of the shocking sights seen by the British public, and indeed the

Between the stock market crash of 1929 and the end of World War II in 1945, fashion was forced to take the backseat. In the beginning of the 1950’s, the fashion scene was yet again at the forefront of western cultures, perhaps more than ever before. With an economic boom, the decade pushed towards consumerism, a trend that still continues to this day. Once WWII came to an end, rationing became a thing of the past, as the accessibility of various fabrics became the norm. It was during the 50’s that department stores gained popularity, providing access to a wide range of consumer goods from all areas of the world. Having the latest trends was no longer a concept reserved exclusively for the rich, people everywhere shared loved for fashion (Leaper, 2017). The fashion trends that were created during this period reflected femineity by emphasising on the female figure. With many new silhouettes emerging, the era became a time of conformity. Throughout the 50's, women were expected to look and dress a certain way and many conformed to this established standard of fashion. With husbands returning from the war, American women were again expected to focus on their role as housewives. Conformity among women was highly encouraged, eliminating the need for dramatic styles. The conformity throughout this era highlights the contrast between the independent flappers of the 20s and the conforming women of the 50’s and how far the evolution of women’s fashion has travelled. Trends: During

This extracts was from a magazine in the Sears catalog during the late 1950s. This magazine portrayed the US. perspective of fashion as colorful and full of life. Fashion had a sense of individuality. Everyone was allowed to express what they felt and were allowed to dress as they wished. However, during World War II and the 1940s, clothing was greatly influenced by limited quantities of fabrics, threads and needles. The most popular styles were the simple outfits using as little of these as much as possible. Once World War 2 ended, new fabrics and a larger variety of qualities and quantities of fabric allowed a new type of fashion to blossom throughout the fifties. This was vastly recognizable in the United States. Women's dresses in particular, showed off a diverse range of pleats, volumized petticoats, and diverse collars; all made of the best fabrics such as taffeta, nylon, rayon, wool and

Above all, fashion has changed a great deal over the past centuries. As history changes, it seems that fashion in some aspect changes with it to adapt to the era. Even today fashion continues to change as the years go on. Looking at fashion even 20 years ago people can see a difference from what they see in their everyday lives. In “Clothing and Fashion: American Fashion from

Trends today, are hardly ever completely new. More often than we may notice, we recycle trends and styles and then add our own modern turns. Even though fashion and style in today's pop-culture is about individuality; we share several similarities with the fashion scene of the 1960’s. Fashion took a everlasting turn in the 1960's and some of our most iconic looks come from the decade.

Among the decades of history, many trends have been introduced by the power of people; however, some fads became more popular than others. Popularity in the latest fashions has to do with how easy to wear, creative, and different the fashions are. Creative trends usually get people’s attention because the they stand out more. A different look, however, tends to capture people’s attention, so one trend is not worn for a long time. In order to create a new fashion, there has to be a modern element never seen before so the newest craze is not a replica of something already created. Many designers like Coco Chanel and pop stars like Madonna helped to create advanced fads separate from the standard forms of dress. As a result, many distinct fashion crazes sprang up in decades like the twenties, fifties, and eighties. The flappers in the 20s, the housewives in the 50s, and the bold-colored teens and young adults of the 80s were very famous for being the most popular clothing trends of their decade because of how easy to wear, creative, and disparate they were.

In 1947 fashion history was made. French designer, Christian Dior displayed his first collection ‘Corolle’ at 30 Avenue Montaigue and essentially became a world renowned designer overnight (Dior.com, no date). Dior managed to recreate the image of a woman in a matter of days where he presented 90 different outfits to well-known designers and editors. Carmel Snow, then editor-in-chief of harpers bazar, after seeing Dior’s show declared the collection “The New Look” (Press.C, 2016:) and this name caught on to many, when eventually everyone was calling the Bar suit, Dior’s New Look.